2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
$570 Big Stack Pot Limit Omaha Six-Max (Single Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guarantee

April 20th, 2015

Total Entries:  90
Total Prize Pool:  $45,000

Recap:

Event 18 gave Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown players one last chance to play some non-Hold’em before the series wound down. The $570 buy-in tournament was a short-handed, Pot Limit Omaha event with a nice $30,000 guaranteed prize pool. They easily surpassed that amount after 90 entrants created a $45,000 prize pool. When it was all done, Charles Sinn was the last player standing for the title and $12,128.

The 6-max format combined with the high-gamble nature of PLO and single re-entry kept the tournament moving at a quick pace. They were soon at the final table with six players left for a chance at the title. Darius Studdard had the best historical numbers compared to the rest, a $300k runner-up finish in a 6-max WSOP event last summer, but he was knocked out in 5th place.

Charles Sinn was the big chip leader throughout all final table play and was responsible for all but one elimination. The final heads up battle with Joel Harwood did not last long. Sinn had Harwood all-in with the best of it and stayed that way through the river. Harwood picked up $8,217 for his 2nd place finish while Sinn grabbed the $12,128 first place prize, slick trophy, and the custom framed winner’s photo from IMPDI.

Final table results:

1st: Charles Sinn (Delray Beach, FL) – $12,128
2nd: Joel Harwood (Hallendale, FL) – $8,217
3rd: Dmitriy Vernitskiy – $5,369
4th: Jeffery Palarino (Pittsburgh, PA) – $4,293
5th: Darius Studdard (Medford, NY) – $3,222
6th: Ricardo Nakamura (Londrina, BR) – $2,480

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
$1,650 Eight-Max No Limit Hold’Em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guarantee

April 19 – 20th, 2015

Total Entries:  110
Total Prize Pool:  $165,000

Recap:

A world champion, a November Niner and one of the most consistent players at Seminole Hard Rock took to the felt chasing the Event 16 title but in the end Rachel Kranz pulled off the amazing upset and took down Event 16 and the $44,683 first prize.

11 players returned on Day 2 including Jamie Gold, Chino Rheem and Daren Stabinski plus chip leader Robert Black.

Fairly quickly, the short-stacked Jamie Gold fell in 10th place and was soon followed by Ray Qartomy in 9th. The field continued to whittle down rapidly as Long Nguyen went out in 8th, Eracles Panayitou left in 7th, and Black finished 6th.  At that point, the remaining five players were battling for most of the evening before Daniel DiZenzo finally went out in 4th leaving Rheem, Stabinsky and Kranz to play for the title.

Because the players were so deep, it took hours before Stabinski finally met his fate in 3rd.  Stabinski just could not find an answer for Kranz finally going out when he went all-in with on a 7-9-10 board.  Kranz had an answer holding pocket tens and sent Stabinski to the payout window in third setting up a showdown with Rheem.

With a large crowd including Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi watching the action, Rheem began with a ton of confidence but outchiped 4:1.  With what seemed like non-stop conversation going on, Rheem finally doubled up.  On a board, the chips ended up in the middle and Chino flipped up and Kranz had .  After the board ran out , Rheem now had a 2:1 edge.

But Kranz struck back.  Rheem went all-in having hit a top pair on a six-board but Kranz turned over pocket jacks and retook the lead.

Not long after, the woman who had seemed to have all the answers pulled out some magic one more time.  After a flop, Kranz and Rheem had their chips in the middle.  Rheem was looking good with for top two pair but Kranz was holding for the set and after the cards ran out , Kranz had pulled out the victory.

Kranz was very congratulatory to Chino and was thrilled with victory yelling out “It just set in – I won $44,000!”  Not only that but she had outlasted one of poker’s greats to do it.

Congratulations to our Event 16 Champion – Rachel Kranz!

Results:
1st – Rachel Kranz (New York, NY) – $44,683
2nd – Chino Rheem (Los Angeles, CA) – $26,400
3rd – Daren Stabinski (Weston, FL) – $19,365
4th – Sean Giesbrecht (Richmond, BC, Canada) – $13,860
5th – Daniel DiZenzo (Sussex, NJ) – $10,478
6th – Robert Black (Dallas, TX) – $8,003
7th – Eracles Panayitou (Tom’s River, NJ) – $6,435
8th – Long Nguyen (Houston, TX) – $5,198